An Indoor Sport Heads For Outdoor Life

Apparently what we've been reading is true: The NHL will be calling the Outdoor Life Network (OLN) its new cable television home:

In May, ESPN informed the league that it would not pick up the $60 million option it had to broadcast the league's games for another season. After the league and the players' association settled on the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement in mid-July, Comcast, the nation's largest cable television provider, became the most interested in picking up the NHL's broadcasts. Comcast offered a three-year deal worth more than $200 million, and ESPN officials were brought back to the table. They had until Wednesday to once again decide if it was in the network's best interest. Comcast and the league agreed to a two-year deal that can be extended up to six years.

The speculation is that Comcast will use the NHL to rebrand OLN as a competing sports network -- something that Lynne Kiesling addressed a couple of days ago. For Comcast, the NHL buys them into the game -- think of it as much like the action Fox took when it acquired rights to the NFL, just on a smaller scale.

Will Comcast take a bath on the deal at a little less than $70 million per for three seasons? According to ESPN, the NHL on the flagship sports channel averaged 416,000 viewers in 2003-04, and 209,000 on ESPN2. While I'm no cable ratings expert, OLN did recently report that the live coverage of the Tour de France averaged over 600,000 viewers. Of course, this may be a meaningless statistic, as I have no idea what the NHL would replace on OLN, nor any idea of what rating they hope to achieve with a channel that doesn't have nearly the reach of ESPN.

Then again, it looks like OLN might have some sort of market niche to exploit. Back in the time when there was still music on MTV, ESPN would put any sports property it could find on the air -- with Australian Rules Football probably being the most memorable.

But with ESPN straying further and further from mainstream sports programming, and a number of sports fans regularly expressing their displeasure at the changes at the cable network, OLN might just create a home for viewers that have been displaced over the past several years.

UPDATE: More details that should make hockey fans happy from the AP:

The deal with Comcast goes beyond just television rights. Comcast will bring the NHL Network to cable systems in the United States, and provide on-demand game broadcasts and computer streaming of live games.

First of all, it's about time that we'll be able to get the NHL Network here in the U.S., and I wonder if Comcast will be able to make space for it on its cable systems in time for the 2005-06 season.

What's interesting is the on-demand and Web-streaming of NHL content. Comcast already offers a superior package of NFL highlights after each Sunday's regular season games, and I wonder if Comcast will do the same with the NHL? And here's something I forgot the first time I posted: Because Comcast is a cable provider, not just a cable network, it will be able to monetize a number of NHL assets that ESPN might not have been able to take full advantage of.

For instance, on-demand highlight packages and Web-streaming are two products that Comcast would want to leverage in order to keep customers buying their cable and broadband Internet services. For some time now, I've been considering a move from Comcast to DirecTV. But if the NHL Network isn't available on DirecTV, that might give me pause. And we already know that due to technical limitations, satellite television simply can't deliver on-demand programming of any type.

Another option I'm considering is the new FIOS service from Verizon. But again, if it can't deliver all of what I'm looking for, I'd probably stick with Comcast -- even now when the expense per month for cable and Internet is beginning to reach absurd levels.

Certainly more to think about. And if Comcast executes this the way I anticipate, it could be good news for hockey fans in the U.S. as well.

UPDATE: Some interesting details from the official announcement of the deal:

The partnership between OLN, Comcast and the NHL will redefine the sport for hockey viewers. More action on video on demand (VOD), in HDTV and online will create an experience like never before, including:

* VOD game highlights and library footage of hockey's greatest moments with full fast-forward, rewind and replay capability;

* HDTV game coverage in a crisper, faster-moving, more exciting game for hockey fans every week;

* Online streaming of two live games per night (subject to local blackout), broadband highlights, commentary, and library footage;

* Round-the-clock coverage on the NHL Network, to be launched in the US in the future; and

* Comcast will have the ability to carry and/or syndicate additional games on Comcast's regional sports networks where it has the consent of the local team and team's rights holder.

Wow. Good news all around, supplemented by a number of new features that ESPN probably couldn't provide on its own. While it's still early, this looks like a great deal for the league, and an even better deal for its fans.

Eric 06:35 AM

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